By the time this article is published, voco Bangkok Surawong will be just a couple of months shy of its first anniversary in Thailand. They’re just one of more than 7,000 hospitality establishments that sit beneath the sprawling InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) umbrella, a company which has spent over a century in the business. But voco, by all metrics, is a young establishment. Especially so when you consider it will have only been eight years since the brand first launched in 2018, and that this is its first foray into the Thai market.
With such youth usually comes exuberance. You half-expect the hotel to be bursting at the seams with grand ideas and overly curated experiences for its guests. I mean, if they wanted to, they could. Being managed by one of the largest hospitality groups in the world presents its own set of benefits. But voco Bangkok Surawong takes the opposite approach. They display a degree of restraint that feels wiser than its years might suggest, which is what makes this composure all the more interesting.
This mature restraint extends to the design of the rooms themselves, in a manner that feels effortless yet playful. Geometric forms are fleshed out and repeat themselves quietly throughout the space. Lines comb across carpets and bed frames, cylinders become chairs, spheres become lamps, and cubes become tiles on the bathroom wall.
Mid-century modern colours like mustard yellow and deep teal paint the rooms in a contemporary coat that feels retro without being defined by it. The result is subdued in ways that are charming and fresh but never crosses the border into overstimulation. Everything has character, but nothing is clamouring for attention.
The hotel seems to understand a rather simple concept that falls between the cracks for others: tourists don’t visit a city to stay in their hotel. In a city already spilling with temples and museums, underpriced clothes and overly greasy food that nourishes the soul, you need to do little to make an experience enjoyable. Over-curation, while well-intended, can often mean trading spontaneous discovery for a scripted experience. In truth, you won’t come away describing voco using a word like “bespoke”. You may, however, use “authentic” to describe your stay instead.
Authenticity, after all, is something that can’t be formulated or replicated on a drawing board. It tends to reveal itself serendipitously in the unscripted moments and little gestures that make a stay feel familiar. Being handed a mango sticky rice cookie as you check in at the counter at midnight; a sweet doorman checking in on how Thailand has been treating you while you wait for your cab. These moments snowball and grow, until coming back to the hotel after a long day of exploration stops lifting the heart with novel excitement, but grounds it with familiar comfort.
If you’re anything like me in a foreign country, your first order of business is to squeeze as much food from culinary landmarks into your belly as you can. But being a night owl can often come at the expense of visiting breakfast spots that stow their plastic stools early.
Moments like this are when the hotel’s breakfast buffet suddenly becomes imperative, and it's apparent that voco doesn’t treat theirs as an afterthought. At Deckles, you’ll get the usual continental and Thai laid out in front of you. But there’s also an array of mini bars spanning from salads, pancakes, omelettes, and noodles, that’ll take you a couple of days to eat your way through.
Once the last morning diner has been satiated, Deckles transforms into a smokehouse that offers a selection of slow-smoked meats including Root Beer Beef Ribs, Portuguese Peri Peri Chicken and its signature Smoked Brisket. While the restaurant bills itself as an authentic US smokehouse, we thought the food had been tweaked to suit the Southeast Asian tongue. Pickled papaya salad and fried golden shallots accompany the meats, cutting through the cloying fattiness while adding a ton of crunch and acidity.
Elsewhere on level one, there’s also Tasca Sabio, which brings Spain to the table with an array of hot and cold tapas, alongside sangrias to help those late-night conversations flow. And because the hotel is located in the bustling district of Surawong, you have all of Silom waiting outside. You’re never too far away from the next bar, mall, cultural landmark, or Thai massage.
It seems almost absurd to suggest this, but it takes a certain level of humility for a hotel to place its guests' needs above its own; to facilitate a stay that’s smooth and unstuffy, rather than one that’s intent on worming itself into your itinerary list. The 25-metre pool set amidst a lush garden landscape is there when you want it, so is the fitness centre. You can use these amenities or ignore them. Either way, nothing feels forced.
Where voco excels is understanding that it doesn’t need to do too much. The little things, like walking into your room for the first time and seeing your television greet you by your name, or having a late checkout request accommodated without feeling like you’ve just committed an administrative crime—these are what make a stay feel welcoming.
In a void, nothing feels particularly revolutionary, but voco gives its guests something more valuable in return: getting out of the way and letting the city overwhelm you instead.
voco Bangkok Surawong by IHG is located at 80 Surawong Rd, Si Phraya, Bang Rak, Bangkok 10500, Thailand
